The NHL trade freeze came and went at 3 PM ET on Friday, and there is but one transaction to report. The Boston Bruins shipped center Carter Camper to the Columbus Blue Jackets for defenseman Blake Parlett. Both players are toiling away in the AHL this season though, Camper did get three games with Boston (and scored a goal) back in the 2011-12 season.

Obviously, a deal involving two minor leaguers is not the fireworks that were rumored in the lead up to the deadline. So what happened? There are a few reasons why, at least for now, teams didn’t make a lot of moves.

In order to take the contract, you also have to send salary back. Certain teams with oodles of space (New York Islanders) might be okay with absorbing a player if the prospect/pick haul was good enough. But if you’re the New York Rangers, and part of the reason you’re dealing the player is for cap relief, that’s not really an option.

2. The Olympic break

But wait, you say, wasn’t the Olympic freeze supposed to motivate teams to make a move? And you’d be half-right. Sellers probably did want to get trades done by the freeze. But if you’re a buyer, what exactly is your incentive?

Vanek, Callahan and others are heading to Sochi to play in the Olympics while the NHL goes on break. There is nothing to gain by trading for them at the moment. The buying team might get one game out of them before they leave. But there is plenty to lose. Suppose a general manager trades a prospect and first round pick for Vanek, who promptly blows out his knee at the Olympics. That G.M. got absolutely nothing for the price paid.

It takes at least two to tango when making moves. If there’s little reason for buying teams to get players right now, and everything to lose, why bother?

3. This isn’t the trade deadline

Nothing is happening until the end of the day on Feb. 23, but again, that means little since no NHL games will be played until Feb. 25.

If this were the actual trade deadline, obviously, teams would risk their new acquisition gets hurt during the tournament. But it’s not, so they’re not going to. And that means if they’re not paying, the sellers would be foolish to give away their assets at a discounted price.

It would have been interesting if something big had gone down before the trade freeze, but when you add it all up, it's not surprising nothing huge happened. Things should get a bit more intriguing once the players return from Sochi and the league has until March 5 to make moves.

But it’s not all bad. When the day began, few hockey fans probably had even heard of Carter Camper and Blake Parlett. After 3 p.m., a few more do.